WASHINGTON — In advance of his first All-Star Game since Little League, Astros hitting coach Dave Hudgens was made available for a rare interview before the team's contingent left for the Midsummer Classic.

The club sparingly lets its coaches talk, so rest assured, the topics varied from just the All-Star Game.

Here are some snippets from the Astros' fourth-year hitting coach who leads an offense that, at the All-Star break, boasts the game's fourth-best OPS (.768).

Q: How many All-Star Games is this for you?

A: At the major league level, none. I made it in Little League one time when I was 10. But, yeah, I'm very excited. It's all about the team. We won a World Series. I'm thankful for the team, the team we have and I'm really excited."

Q: You're going to have some of the game's best hitters at your disposal. What will it be like to interact with them?

A: I doubt there's a whole lot of instruction, hopefully there will be a little back and forth, getting to talk to some of these guys. I know a few of them. We don't have a whole lot of time, we'll have some times during batting practice and during the game, but it's always great to be able to talk to the best hitters in the world. Fortunately, I'm able to talk to a few of them every day. But it's going to be fun."

Q: Will you take a moment to soak in the entire experience?

A: I'm going to have my family there, kids and stuff, and it'll be fun for everybody to be there. I'm just going to enjoy being there, it'll be exciting. We don't get to do this every year — hopefully we'll get to do it more than once — but being there and just meeting people, getting to talk to them, that's the most exciting part.

A: It's great. I've known A.J. since he was drafted out of college with the A's (Hudgens was a minor league coach then.) Seeing what he's accomplished and what he's done, not only as a player but now as a manager and everything he's done in baseball. It's an honor to be on his staff."

Q: What makes Hinch such a good communicator?

A: He's really smart, probably one of the smartest people I've ever met. He's well thought out, thinks about things before they happen and doesn't react to things and gets along with people. Basically knows what to say and when to say it."

Q: You finished your major league career with one hit. Take us through that.

A: My one hit was my one start. I got the start against Dave Stieb in Toronto with Oakland. I got a base hit to left field in my second at-bat. The other times, my at-bats were against the closer in the ninth inning.

Q: How would you define your teaching style?

A: I think it depends on the individual. It's not one cookie-cutter type of style. An Evan Gattis is going to be different than Jake Marisnick, Carlos Correa is going to be different than Jose Altuve. Everyone is a little bit different, everyone has a little different keys, I think the one thing we like to pride ourselves on is having a good approach at the plate, being prepared and knowing who's out there that we're facing and being able to make adjustments.

Q: It's been a short stint so far, but what have you thought of Kyle Tucker?

A: I like him, I like him a lot. He's got incredible whip in his bat. You can see what's in there. Like any young player, he's going to need to make adjustments. He's got to learn the league, learn the pitchers and what they do to him. He's going to be a really good hitter.

Q: How would you assess George Springer's up and down first half?

A: He was really hot early, I think maybe there was a little mechanical thing going on with him and maybe he got into a little bit of a bad habit. The thing about it is, he's worked really hard, he's stayed consistent with his work and he's hit some balls hard that's been caught, that's the thing. I think he's run into a little bit of bad luck. You can see in the last week or so he's picking it up a little bit, some things are starting to fall for him a little bit. He's had a couple balls caught at the wall, one was robbed of a homer. If some of those fall in, it's totally different. He's going to be fine. By the end of the year, he's going to be really good.

Q: How is he handling it mentally?

A: Very good. He's very good, very tough, he's strong. Stays consistent. Hasn't missed a day of work, comes in and tries to figure things out. Like any hitter, he gets mad at what's going on and you start asking questions, but he's stayed consistent with what he's doing. He'll be fine. You saw what he did in the World Series after striking out four times. I'm not concerned about George at all.

Chandler Rome joined the Houston Chronicle in 2018 to cover the Astros after spending one year in Tuscaloosa covering Alabama football — during which Nick Saban asked if he attended college. He did, at LSU, where he covered the Tigers baseball team for nearly four years. He covered most of the Astros' 2015 playoff run, too, as an intern for MLB.com